Sunday, June 30, 2019

Dan Ellison invited us to Helena to spy on and photograph this Merlin nest in a downtown park. I just drove 2 1/2 hours but Nick Dunlop (center) flew in from Central California, Bruce Haak drove the 8 hours from Boise and they stayed the week. Three young are in an old crow nest at the top of this spruce tree (check out the cones!) and parents bringing in birds from all directions. What fun, despite all the darned rain. Nick's photos will be in our New!Revised! Falcons of North America book.

Thursday, June 20, 2019

We finished our paper mâché raptors today (plus a Western Meadowlark and Peacock.) A Ferruginous Hawk, two kestrels, two Snowy Owls, an Aplomado Falcon, a Boreal Owl, Turkey Vulture, Bald Eagle, and Sibley the Peregrine. The best kids ever!

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Sibley the Peregrine's 600th program was today at the Missoula Art Museum! !! !!! Joining our family in 2003 as a tiny baby, she's also celebrated 816 tours for a total of 1416 appearances with kids and their parents, the public fun, plus starred in 4 films. Wow, so proud, Sib.

Sunday, June 16, 2019

Back to the Blackfoot with Mom, sister Betsy, and Jay Sumner. Where are the Johnsrud Peregrines?! These cliffs have been a mystery for years, with both adults showing up, acting like they are nesting, then no young. Last time we saw fledglings was 2016, three here:

Thursday, June 13, 2019

Well, I picked up some good ole Rives BFK creme printmaking paper at the UC Bookstore and ran four more Peregrines. This time I accidentally got too light of a stock! When I went to paint it, the paper buckled and warped with each application of gouache. I had to use a clothes iron to flatten it over and over. Wash. Iron. Repeat. I think I’ve ironed two shirts with that $4.99 special from the Goodwill and twenty times today on a Peregrine.

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

I wanted to tone down my Peregrine etching a bit, so spent Sunday afternoon printing on creme-colored paper I had on hand. "Perfect!" I kept thinking, and pressed and dried six prints ready for painting Monday morning, three at a time. As I applied the first brush stroke of gouache to the falcon cheek, the paint was soaked up immediately, blotting out the face! I looked on the back and it had soaked through in seconds. Boy, did I have the wrong kind of paper! It reminded me of the movie “Alien" when they cut through the parasite trying to remove it from Kane’s face and the dripping blood burned holes in the floor all through the spacecraft. Just like that.ps: my buddy Nick Dunlop suggested I could use the bad prints to mop up spills on the floor, and that's what we'll do!

Sunday, June 9, 2019

Friday, June 7, 2019

Yesterday I was at grocery store and watched a woman's cart with supplies and her purse slowly roll downhill away from her car so grabbed it right away. I returned the cart and asked if she remembered that famous scene from the movie "Battleship Potemkin" (1925, Eisenstein , I just looked it up) when the baby carriage rolled down the staircase at Odessa. She replied, "Sure." HA!And here is my new dry-point etching called "Peregine Cliff." I pounded various coarsenesses of sandpaper into the plastic to get the different textures, painted with gouache. Total experiment and still working on the color. 11" x 8"

Saturday, June 1, 2019

Missoula Community Access Television was filming a spot here Thursday with Neil Falcon Wells and icon Joel Baird. An intro in the office with Sonora the Aplomado Falcon, then great tour of the facilities and sculptures. Yesterday we had a program at Lolo Pass Visitors Center with Woodman School and my pal and young ornithologist Elsie Quigley with Simon, Sibley in the background, photo by her mom Meggan. Nigel the eagle and Owen the Saw-whet were also stars. Fun two days in a row!

Kate Davis is the founder and Executive Director of Raptors of the Rockies, a non-profit 501(c)(3) raptor education project located in Western Montana. With 32 years of educating, Kate and Teaching Team birds have presented 1780 programs to schools and the public, an audience 136,000, young and old alike. She has also presented her lively PowerPoint programs across the country from Boston to Seattle, with Chicago, Salt Lake City and Detroit in between. Kate is the author and illustrator of five books on raptors, and the latest "Birds Are People,Too" is photography and humor in the avian world. Become a Raptor Backer today with our Donate button on the web site.